If you attached a Fitbit or other tracking device to Patrick or Ted Courtney the result in one day of walking might stretch miles, perhaps even to marathon length. Even more remarkable is that the trail would take place in a three to four-block stretch of downtown Edgartown.

It is a well worn trail the brothers have walked since they were young boys, working for their father Geno at his various shops in town, and now continue as adults at their own businesses. On a recent morning they paused in their individual duties, just for a moment. The Port Hunter had opened the previous week and the next day their restaurant across the street, the Covington, would open. Down the block, the Paper Store was already in high gear as was Backwater Trading Company a bit further down Main street.

Seated at bar stools inside the Port Hunter the brothers shrugged when asked if they were stressed about getting ready for another season.

“It’s seasonal, same things happen in early May that happened last year and the year before,” said Ted Courtney. “We’re fortunate we’ve been here for lots of Aprils and Mays.”

“After you get your butt kicked a few times you learn you have to go with the flow to some extent and stay positive,” Patrick said. “It will all find its place.”

The brothers, by their own account and confirmed by their father, have always gotten along. They are separated by two years — Patrick is 37 and Ted is 35 — and hair length. This was not always the case and when they both wore their hair long many thought they were twins. A few years ago Patrick cut his hair shorter making it easier for the casual acquaintance to tell them apart.

They opened the Port Hunter in 2012 and the Covington in 2016, plunging into the unknown complexities of the restaurant business. But while the food business was new to them, their resumes in retail were long, stretching back to when their ages were in the single digits, helping their father at Shirt Tales and The Paper Store.

“We’d go with Geno to the Patriot Boat and pick up the papers around 4:45 or 5 a.m. from the time we were about nine or 10 years old to high school,” Patrick recalled. “You think back on it now, it didn’t seem that awesome at the time, but those are great memories. You’d go to the Patriot, then over to Dougie Abdelnour’s, they were just making the doughnuts for the day, hang out with Dougie and Geno in the back and grab a couple doughnuts and then come down here and get the sawhorses and the plywood out and then you would have to assemble all the papers.”

This was back when print newspapers were still king and each Sunday, according to Geno, they’d sell 800 copies of the New York Times and 600 copies of the Boston Globe. The Times would have five inserts, the Globe two and it would be up to the brothers to assemble the sections in time for opening the store at 7 a.m.

On busy summer days they would also sell golf balls on Main street.

“Geno grew up in South Boston, the hard way,” Patrick said. “The guy never knew how to take a vacation. Never had any recreational pursuits outside of work. So when we did start taking vacations as kids he would come but he had no idea what to do with himself. We would rent this little condo on a golf course and he couldn’t get over the fact that everybody would buy these golf balls for a couple bucks each and then hit them in the water.”

Ted takes up the story: “So instead of learning to play golf, he bought a golf ball getter and went out to the pond to get all the balls. Then he put them in the washing machine and we took them back in a duffel bag and the two of us would sell them on Main street.”

Eventually, the family began spending winters in Florida, where Patrick graduated from high school. Ted didn’t take to Florida so he finished high school in New Hampshire. Both went to college in Colorado.

But every summer found them back in Edgartown.

“Whether it was golf balls, or newspapers or now food, since we were really young we’ve been making our living in some form or another in downtown Edgartown,” Patrick said.

After college they both moved back to the Vineyard for good and opened Backwater Trading Company in 2008, their first business as a team. They wanted to bring some of their experiences back to the Island to fill a niche they felt was missing.

“We both went to school in Colorado and we were used to good lifestyle outdoor clothing,” Patrick said.

“A lot of people think Martha’s Vineyard is very preppy but you come here and it’s really not,” Ted continued. “There’s some people into that, which is great, but it’s not the majority of the population here.”

After putting all of their energy for four years into Backwater they began planning the Port Hunter, again using their own lives as a guide. They were now in their late 20s, working long hours and wanted a casual place to have a drink and bite to eat at the end of the day.

“We wanted it to be fun and we wanted to have live music because there was none of that going on in town,” Patrick said. “And so the initial opening of the Port Hunter was along those lines, how we wanted the space to serve Edgartown.”

Four years later, then in their 30s, they could understand the appeal of a smaller, more intimate dining experience and the Covington was born.

Both brothers are quick to point to their father as well as their mother Barbara as essential role models for their work ethic. They also agreed that for them another key ingredient to succeeding in the retail and restaurant businesses is the ability to deal with people.

“Being nice,” Ted summed up.

When asked if he helped teach this to his sons, Geno laughed.

“No way,” he said without hesitation, while seated on a bench on the corner of Main and Summer streets with a view of both restaurants. “I ruled things with an iron hand. They have much more finesse.”

As for his sons’ success, after not heeding his advice to stay out of the restaurant business, Geno said he is impressed. “For two kids who didn’t know anything about the business that’s something,” he said, adding that being brothers has helped.

“There’s two of them and two restaurants and every night one is in each one. I asked my ex-wife, who do you think the leader is? She said, ‘I think it’s equal,’ and I’d agree.”

The brothers also agree, saying their shared duties, with Ted mostly in the kitchen and Patrick working the front of the house, developed organically.

“When we opened the first year it was not about, well, I think I’d like to do this or he’d like to do that,” Patrick said. “It was what can I do that will be the most helpful to trying to succeed.”

They are quick to point to Brice Contessa, a friend from when they were kids going fishing together, as another key to their success. They talked him into helping out for a weekend during the Port Hunter’s second summer. Seven years later Brice is still with them, managing the restaurant every day.

They also take seriously their roles in the town. As brothers who run businesses and rent out spaces to other stores they have a unique perspective and influence on both the history and future of Edgartown.

“Whenever we are trying to rent a space we are trying to get someone who is a proper fit for the overall town and not just a fit,” Ted said. “But at some points you have to sit and watch what happens.”

They both remember a time not long ago when the always fragile future was more uncertain.

“In 2008, when the recession hit, there were also a lot of these old-school mom and pop stores, the folks had gotten older and so that provided some turnover,” Patrick said. “You think about in those couple years, this unique small town atmosphere could have gone either way.”

Overall, though, they both agree that although there have been many changes over the decades Edgartown has maintained its personality.

“It’s changed a lot and it’s also very much the same in a lot of ways as well,” Patrick said. “It definitely is a little bit busier, definitely less people live in downtown Edgartown than there used to be. You’ve seen a decent amount of business go away for residential housing as well, but I think the town as a whole is in very good shape, and is as nice as it’s ever been.”

They also said that it is this mix of old and new, of small town and resort town, that made them want to stay on the Island to build their businesses and lives.

“On a Saturday night in July you’ve got everybody from kids you grew up fishing with to some of the wealthiest people in the nation,” Patrick said. “And they are all happy because they are in a place they love, and they are in here rubbing elbows and no one cares where you’re from.

“That is one of the most magical things about the Vineyard,” Ted agreed. “The collective group of people that come here because of the Vineyard, not because of who or what they are.”